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Fox tops finale-heavy Monday

"Gossip Girl" season finale has ratings spike

The CW's "Gossip Girl" season finale spiked to deliver the show's highest rating since November, while NBC's "American Gladiators" continued its rapid ratings decline.

Monday night was stuffed with season finales (and had one season premiere). Fox's "House" (16.2 million viewers, 5.7 preliminary adults 18 to 49 rating and a 14 share) topped the night, though was down slightly from last week. Lead-in "Bones" (10.2 million, 3.3/10) was on par.

CBS came in second; its comedy block finales delivering mixed results. "Big Bang Theory" (7.4 million, 2.7/8) hit a season low, "How I Met Your Mother" (9.9 million, 3.2/9) and "Two and a Half Men" (14.8 million, 4.8/12) were down slightly from their original averages, but "Rules of Engagement" (12.3 million, 4.3/10) had its best rating since November. The "CSI: Miami" finale (10.4 million, 4.5/12) had its best return since March.

ABC's finale of "Dancing With the Stars" was on par (18.8 million, 4.3/12) but the two-hour debut of "The Bachelorette" (8.8 million, 3.0/8) hit a new low for a premiere episode of the franchise.

In fourth place, NBC's "American Gladiators" continued to decline (4 million, 1.6/4), the heavily promoted show sliding into alarming ratings territory. "Gladiators" has yet to show weekly growth since its January premiere. The time-period premiere of "Dateline" (5.8 million, 2.0/5) followed.

The CW aired the finale of "Gossip" (3 million, 1.4/4) climbing 17% from last week, followed by "One Tree Hill" (3.2 million, 1.5/4).